A Very Merry Christmas
by Mrs. Hotchner-Wolfe
Summary: Kate gives Aaron a special Christmas Present. This will be either just a few chapters long with sequels or one really long story... Undecided as of yet
1. Chapter 1

Aaron watched in the kitchen as Jack covered the newspapers in paint. The Tuesday had started out like any other and while Aaron worked on some case files, Jack sat next to him painting a picture. He had been getting paint on the table until Aaron decided to place newspapers around the place. He started painting on the papers and, once her realised he had no boundaries, discarded the paint brush and covered his hands with paint, occasionally threatened to get some on Aaron. Aaron didn't care. He didn't get mad. He never got mad at Jack. He loved him too much. And Haley not being around anymore was clear proof that life was too short.

Aaron sighed remembering the woman he had loved a long time ago. The woman who would always have a place in his heart. Her death was tragic. It had been a painful few months for Aaron and Jack. Jack had cried every night and had had trouble sleeping. Aaron would wake up in a cold sweat after a nightmare and Jack would be in the room, staring up at him, his eyes all red, his clothes wet. Aaron would tell him all about his mom. How they met; how happy they were; how fun Aaron could be.

Jack beamed up at Aaron. Aaron smiled back down at him. He walked over and picked the boy up off the seat. "Lunch is nearly ready." He kissed Jack on the head. "Will you go clean up?" Jack scurried off and Aaron couldn't help but feel lucky.

Aaron stared at the snow falling outside before dishing up the pasta. After lunch, Jack watched his daddy clean up. He looked at his legs as they swung. "Daddy?"

"Hm."

"When's Kate coming home?"

Aaron felt the smile creep up on his face. "Um, I'm gonna go pick her up when the boys get here."

Aaron always tried hard not to think of Kate. It made him go crazy. Especially when he hadn't seen her in so long. It was easiest when Jack wasn't around. Aaron could just bring her somewhere - anywhere - and make love to her for as long as he wanted.

But he didn't have a choice this time. Jessica went off somewhere with her new boyfriend for the weekend and he enlisted the help of Dave, Morgan and Reid to baby-sit his son, none of whom he trusted on their own.

Jack had fallen in love with Kate as much as Hotch had when he first met her. Given circumstances weren't ideal - Kate was still trying to recover from her trauma - but Aaron had found out that he was in love with this woman more than he had ever imagined loving Haley. And Jack had found a friend in Kate. A bonus was that 'she makes Daddy smile.'

"When can we go visit Kate again?" Jack asked.

"We'll see."

They had gone to England for two weeks for Easter and Jack had been totally taken with the red buses and Kate's 'castle of a house.' She had taught him how to ride horses and late, when Kate's family were entertaining Jack and Kate was supposed to be washing her horse, Dent, Aaron had made love to her in the stables, where Kate had continuously joked about it being just like a romantic novel where he can't get enough of her and they get caught, mid-grind. Aaron had laughed and suggested they see if her premonition would come true. He'd made love to her again but no one walked in.

There was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Aaron called.

"It's us." Jack ran to the door and Aaron took his time.

"Hi," he greeted the three men. He checked his watch. "Damn, I didn't realise it was that late."

"Language, daddy," reminded Jack, who had quickly claimed his place in Reid's arms.

"Thank you." He grabbed his jacket, scarf and keys. "Will you be a good boy?" Jack nodded. Aaron grabbed his phone and held it up to the men. "Will you call me if you need anything?"

"Will you go pick her up already?" Rossi said. Aaron headed for the door. "Thank you."

It felt like forever to him. But he had finally made it to the airport. He arrived at the airport half an hour before the only plane from London was due in. Finally, he heard the plane's arrival over the intercom. He grabbed the bouquet of flowers that had been resting close to him: a large mixture of red roses and white lilies: the favourites of the hopeless, clichéd, romantic that he loved.

Hotch looked everywhere his eyes would let him, but there were a lot of people coming off the plane and Hotch was sure he would see her immediately when she got within his sight. The crowd was easing up. Hotch scanned again looking for the straight, short, blonde hair, but he couldn't find it. Suddenly, his eyes scanned back to a face he recognised well. He wouldn't have given the wavy, dark-blonde/brown hair that fell past shoulders a second thought if the face hadn't hit him too hard. It was the one he had memorised countless times before; the smile that made his heart ache. They smiled at each other at the same time. Hotch walked quickly to the woman with the polo neck, long leather coat and close to brown hair. He weaved in and out of the crowds of reunited families. Finally, it was just a clear stretch. Neither waited for the other to greet them: they soon had their arms wrapped tightly around the other, lips pressed firmly together. Hotch didn't care if he ruined the flowers. He needed the feeling of uselessness taken away from him and a few seconds with Kate made that happen.

He resisted when she tried to pull away. She quickly won the fight. "People are staring."

"Let them. I couldn't care even if I wanted to. And since you do care, I do want to… but I still don't… What took you so long?"

"I wanted to make you suffer even more…"

"Sure… I'm sure you were just letting everyone else off the plane before you made you made your move… Probably ended up helping an old lady in the process." He kissed her just below her eye.

She blushed at how well he knew her. " A couple…" She turned her head around looking for them. When she found them she hit Hotch and buried her head into his chest. They had been staring at them. They waved and Hotch forced Kate to wave back.

She pulled herself closer to him. "Are those for me?" she asked.

"The flowers? Maybe… What do I get out of it?" She gave him exactly what he wanted: another passionate kiss. This one was shorter. "Here." Kate happily took the flowers. He took her bags in one hand and wrapped the other around Kate's waist as she smelled them. "They're beautiful. And my favourite."

"I know you too well."

"Thank you," she whispered when she leaned up to kiss him.

"You're letting your hair go natural?"

"You don't like it?"

"I like everything about you."

"You notice too much."

They passed by the couple from the plane and smiled.

By the time they got to the house, Hotch couldn't resist anymore and leaned over and kissed Kate deeply, pushing her head further back into the rest. He didn't do it just because he had to, but also as a way to shut her up; she hadn't shut up since they'd left the airport and sometimes a man just needed his silence to get his head together. And now that Hotch was with Kate, he needed to figure out what the next move was.

He pulled away. "Do you ever shut up?" She hit him playfully but wrapped her fingers in his hair and kissed him. He moaned. "Hmmm, Jack's missed you."

"I've missed you both," she whispered as she pressed her lips against his ear. "Oh, Aaron, how are we supposed to keep doing this?"

Aaron pushed her away from him. "I don't know." He slapped her knee. "C'mon."

Aaron walked into the house. Jack looked up from his seat next to Reid. "Guess who's here?"

Kate walked into the house. Jack jumped off his seat and ran to her. "Katie!"

She bent down and picked him up. "Hello, babe." She kissed his cheek. "Miss me?"

Jack nodded his head. Rossi poked his head out from the kitchen. "Hi, Kate."

"How was your flight?" Reid asked.

"Long," she replied, putting Jack back down. He scurried back over to his seat next Reid.

Aaron wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. "Hm, I wonder why?"

"Hm, I missed you," she replied and kissed him.

"That's gross."

"Hi, Morgan."

"Hi, Joyner."

"What about me?" Jack asked quietly.

"And I missed you so much." Kate went over to where he was sitting.

Jack smiled. "You bring presents?"

"Jack!" Aaron said, joining Rossi in the kitchen. "What are you making?"

"Pizza."

"Of course I brought presents but after dinner." She kissed him on the head.

Aaron smiled as he watched them look and talk to each other. His life was perfect.


	2. Chapter 2

Aaron wrapped his arm tightly around Kate when she reclaimed her place beside him on the couch. After dinner, the small group moved into the living room, put the television on quietly and talked, Kate next to Aaron and Jack curled up in between then. It started snowing and Kate took Jack outside. When they came back in they took their previous positions. After a while, Aaron looked down at Jack and shook him gently. "Hey sleepy, time for bed."

Jack slowly lifted his head. "I want Kate to."

Aaron laughed and Kate picked Jack up and took him into the bedroom. She told him stories about her home until she knew he was asleep.

Aaron smiled as she nestled her head under his chin. Morgan leaned forward and placed his glass on the coffee table. "So Kate, how long are you here for this time?"

Aaron silently cursed Morgan. _Why did he have to bring that up?_

Kate sat up. "Um," she began quietly, "I'm not too sure. Two weeks, three."

Reid looked intently at the wine in his glass. He had drunk a bit too much in the last few hours. "I don't see why you don't just move here." Kate smiled uncomfortably and Aaron grabbed his drink. Dave shot Morgan and Reid a look. "What? It would just make a lot more sense." Reid looked around.

"It's not as easy as that, Reid," Hotch said.

"I've only just got here," Kate smiled. "We just have to get through Christmas and New Years' and then… we'll talk." She grabbed Aaron's hand.

Aaron sighed. "Hm, that should be fun this year." He leaned down and kissed Kate on the lips.

"What'll be wrong with Christmas this year?" Dave asked.

"Well, it's going to be our first Christmas together: me, Kate and Jack. And we're spending it with…" He trailed off.

"We're spending it with Haley's family."

The three men sat there in stunned silence. "What?" Aaron asked.

"Will that not be a bit weird?" Reid asked.

"Well, I'm not going to let Kate spend Christmas alone and all they really want on Christmas day is for Jack to be there."

"It's not like we don't have our doubts about this. But the main thing to have on Christmas is Jack happy."

"And he'll be happy if we all spend Christmas together."

* * *

Aaron walked into the bedroom and jumped in beside Kate. "Jack's still sleeping." He reached down and kissed her.

"Good." She pushed him away

"What's wrong?" He brushed a hair away from her face. She shook her head. "Is it what Reid and Morgan were saying?"

"I just don't know how we can keep doing this. It's going to get impossible."

"We'll figure this out when we get to it." He kissed her shoulder. "It's not easy… but it'll work."

"I'm just tired."

"I have to go to work for an hour tomorrow. You and Jack could come with me. You can catch up with the girls and then we can do the Christmas shopping."

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Jack talked for the whole drive into Quantico. Kate and Aaron smiled at each other.

They walked into the bullpen. JJ was the first to see her. "OH MY GOD! When did you get here?"

Kate had to wait to be released from each woman's grasp before she could answer. "Yesterday evening. I'm just here for Christmas and the New Year." Kate stared at the baby bump the blonde communications liaison was sporting. "Wow! I completely forgot. JJ, I'm so sorry! Aaron told me you were pregnant. Congratulations, sweetheart." She hugged the mother to be again.

Aaron bent down beside Jack. "Do you want to come up to my office with me?"

"He can stay here."

"Are you sure?"

Kate picked him up. "You don't want him with you while you're doing your… work."

He reached over and kissed her on the cheek. "One hour. And then we'll go into the city and go shopping."

After an hour, Aaron and Jack spent another 30 minutes looking at watches before the girls even considered moving.

"I'm sorry," she laughed. "I just haven't seen them in so long."

"Damn I love you."

* * *

Christmas day arrived and the small family went to mass before going to Haley's family. The day started off uncomfortable but as the day went on, the only discomfort of the day was that Aaron's eyes kept boring into Kate. She hadn't given him his present yet, she kept telling him later.

They were in bed before he asked her straight out.

Kate fidgeted for a while. "It's right here."

"Where?"

"I didn't want to freak you out. I didn't know how to tell you."

Aaron laughed. "Tell me what?" Aaron looked at her. She was smiling, one arm wrapped around his neck, the other resting on her stomach, wearing her fluffy pyjamas and her hair pulled back— Aaron looked back at her hand on her stomach and touched it. It was out further than he remembered. He looked up at her and smiled. "No." He shook his head.

Kate nodded vigorously. Aaron pulled her forehead to his. "I found out a few weeks ago… I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want to tell you over the phone or in an e-mail. It didn't seem right."

Aaron laughed. "You're pregnant."

"Six weeks." She was beginning to cry.

"This is the most amazing present ever."

"Do you mean that?"

He nodded. "How far along are you?"

"Six weeks. It must have happened during Halloween." She ran her fingers through his hair. "Aaron… it's two."

Aaron looked at her in shock. "Twins?" He breathed. Kate nodded. Aaron kissed her.

In years to come, Aaron would always remember this Christmas as the best of his life.


End file.
